Though are there any things or features that a new imac may benefit using snow leopard? Other than saving $99.

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How would he save $99?

The current iMac is a 64-bit computer. Snow Leopard will be a fully 64-bit OS. It will run in the faster "mode" all the time. Snow Leopard removes legacy code, so it's a lighter OS, and faster again through that. Snow Leopard uses the GPU for more CPU power when it isn't being needed otherwise.

He'll effectively double his operational speed without any new hardware.

Oops, I meant by buying the retail copy as opposed to getting a new machine with it pre-installed, but then I guess he would be spending another $1000+ going that route But i blurted that out because that's the situation I seem to be in. I'm in the market for a new imac but I was thinking of whether or not to hold off until Snow Leopard.

I would highly agree with Tallest Skil. We have no guarantees that the new iMacs will ship with Snow Leopard, in fact history has shown Apple to do things contrary to this. I would think that Snow Leopard would be made compatible to all Mac users within a time span of about 4 or 5 years previous.

I would highly agree with Tallest Skil. We have no guarantees that the new iMacs will ship with Snow Leopard, in fact history has shown Apple to do things contrary to this. I would think that Snow Leopard would be made compatible to all Mac users within a time span of about 4 or 5 years previous.

1. There's a thing in your user profile for a signature; don't put it in every post, and don't link to other sites (so basically don't post those links anymore).
2. Heck, no, it won't. As I said up there, it will be Intel only and probably only 64-bit Intel.

Of course not, but you may get a Leopard iMac if yours wasn't made after they started shipping them with Snow Leopard. But they will have some kind of deal like the iLife thing where you can get the dvd shipped to your house for 10.00

Snow Leopard will be a fully 64-bit OS. It will run in the faster "mode" all the time. Snow Leopard removes legacy code, so it's a lighter OS, and faster again through that. Snow Leopard uses the GPU for more CPU power when it isn't being needed otherwise.

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All of the seeds and rumors so far have found that only parts of it are x64. Just like Leopard, it retains some x32 code. x64 isn't by definition "faster" than x32. The OS may be lighter in raw gigabytes of space used, but doesn't necessarily mean it will use less memory or resources (Leopard especially loves memory).

Also, remember that the GPU is excellent at doing specialized tasks very quickly. However, it is terrible at doing many different tasks very quickly. A lot of the instructions and processes that the CPU does simply aren't anywhere near as efficient to do on the GPU, software won't change that.

In general I think it'd be smart to wait until Snow Leopard is actually out before getting too excited about it. You're treating it like it will revolutionize OS X - and it may - but it may not.

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